Sachin Tendulkar puts up a One-sided Show

One for all, but all for none. So India did that again...letting an icon down like it is none of their business.

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He almost defeated the mighty Australian cricket team, but rest of the Indian team conspired to defeat their own side. After Sachin fell, it was like Andre Escobar's self-goal. But while Escobar paid with his life, Ravindra Jadeja was left off with a few strong words. When is the Indian team going to realize the importance of having the world's greatest batsman on their side?

20 years in the Indian team has not diminished the spirit of the master blaster. But team India has not given him his rightful share of glory—a World Cup with him at the side. The disappointment was evident when he was called on to the podium to collect the Man of the Match trophy for a losing side. Now he should trust no one and be prepared to bat till the very end. After all that's what his team expects him to do. Taking them to the shore is not enough. Pick them up from the boat and carry them clear of the water without getting their feet wet.

When your own team lets you down, you can't expect your opponents to show respect. But I would have liked to see an Aussie player to go up to Sachin and shake hands with him. I wish Brett Lee was there. For he is one man who would have done that. We have seen the signs of mutual respect they show each other on the field.

The Indian Superiority Theory

One of the leading Indian newspapers recently said China is wary of India's Agni V long range missile

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Recently I happened to read a headline in one of the leading newspapers that China is wary of the Agni V missile, which prompted me to write this piece. The whole campaign appeared funny to me. I wonder how many of the well-educated 'global' Indians out there are ready to buy this claim. Do we really think a superior-ranged nuclear-capable missile is going to compensate for a brittle backbone? Does China, being one of the few firm-spined Asian countries who have shown the courage to dismiss the US big brother status openly, even consider India as a formidable opponent when it comes to military might? Economically, India could be as vibrant and resilient as China, but please do not even claim to be close to China in military might. And never forget that while our first 'indigenous' fighter aircraft flew with a GE F404 engine, almost 20 years on the drawing board, China perfected their technology long back to design their own aircraft, submarines and ICBMs.

The question is why do we need to brag about a re-invented, partially-developed technology so much? We saw this happening in the case of Arjun tanks, LCA Tejas, Kaveri engine, INS Arihant and many others. And the most irritating fact is that three of them were marred by several technical glitches, forcing the armed forces to hunt for more advanced equipment from the international market—and the fourth one is still undergoing sea trials. There is no doubt that the SSBN Arihant is a formidable weapon for its agility, but how much longer will it take to make it a perfect second strike vessel? And what will happen if something goes wrong during the sea trials? How long will it take for us to rebuild a similar vessel? And how are we going to compensate for the short range of the Sagarika missiles expected to be on board?

Come on India, we are living in the age of stealth ships and aircraft, supercavitating missiles, predator drones and anti-missile defence. Going by the pace of technological development in India, we the common people are concerned that by the time we develop these technologies, the rest of the world would have gone a long way ahead. Or are we waiting for the rest of the world to hit a concrete wall so that we can catch up with them?

When Swines Flu Over the Mumbai Nest

You might be wondering why I write about swine flu long after it is gone. In fact, I had written this when the flu was at its peak and kept it aside—may be for a little personal gratification. So here is my own version of how the city of dreams handled the epidemic.

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“One more wicket down,” yells my colleague, as though he is watching an Indo-Pak test match. Immediately I open a popular cricket site, but before I could reach for the scoreboard, comes the clarification, “One more swine flu death in Mumbai.” Few minutes later, another colleague of mine makes her entry with a mask around her facial cavities. On entering her cabin, she removes the mask and throws it carelessly on the table. We wonder how this could prevent a virus from spreading. This is India my boy, where preventive measures become fashion statements within hours of proposal, thanks to the media hype wound around them.

Within days of the first reported swine flu case in India, the N-95 masks—the ones that were supposed to filter the virus out—went out of stock. Step out of your building and you are in the middle of men and women in multi-colored masks bearing facial resemblance to the swines. And there are some who would keep a folded handkerchief over their faces. One ring on their mobile phones, and the cloths disappeared, allowing them to grab the phones. And it was even more funny if you travelled by first class compartment on the train. If one person entered, wearing a mask, the others would immediately cover their faces, as if the one wearing the mask is a carrier or as if they are losing out on something if they don't ape that guy. Soon the masks went out of stock and the shortage forced the government to ban people from selling those masks.

It all started with the panic screening following the detection of swine flu in India. Like AIDS, like SARS, like Anthrax, the new infection earned VIP status within hours of its outbreak—after all, it also came flying across the seas. Soon the channels started celebrating the most notorious villain in the world. Like Bin Laden, like Dawood, like Hitler, the new visitor gained much fanfare on the media. People began marching to screening centers as if to get autographs from him, and the lucky ones came back with his spores. With a campaign gone wrong, the government advised against healthy people going for screening. Then came the preventive—Tamiflu—the only option available in the market. Now all the healthy ones swept the markets clean of anything left of Tamiflu. Like toddlers fighting over chocolates, their parents fought over Tamiflu, leaving no tablets in the market for symptomatic treatment of infected people. With another campaign gone wrong on the media, the government came out with a list of Tamiflu's side-effects. But it was too late. When something gets banned, vendors sell it at a premium. Hence the medical suppliers still made huge profits selling the N-95 masks for as high as Rs.300 if reports are to be believed, and Tamiflu, which supposedly went out-of-stock as per government reports.

These facts force one to ask—is the media mature enough to handle epidemics like these? Is the government mature enough to contain the pandemonium? Is the Indian public mature enough to ignore these unnecessary caution? Now that the flu is contained, we have no way to test. So let's wait for another crisis.